Update

It's been awhile!! Life has been (wonderfully) crazy but I have a lot to update. The biggest news is that surgery #2 is scheduled for Dev. 13. I had my pre-op appointment last Monday and everything is ready to go. And...insurance already pre-approved this surgery. :) This time we're implanting my "good" ear. The results should be even better than my current implant. Unfortunately, it does mean recovery will be worse. The 6-8 weeks of complete deafness will not be fun when I'm used to having sorta-kinda-ok hearing in that ear. But it's temporary!:) I'm a little more nervous this time because a different audiologist will be doing the programming, but my surgeon is amazing and God is faithful.

My implanted ear continues to do well. I've turned it off twice now, once on the grapevine and once during a hearing test on my other ear. Both times were AWFUL, which is good. :) I'm definitely depending on my Esteem instead of my hearing aid for speech now. There's a 32% difference in speech recognition scores between Esteem and hearing aid. It's amazing because my left ear has NEVER been better than my right. I'm finally used to depending on that ear. I'm also really used to hearing. When I can't understand someone, I panic. I know it's part of the adjustment process. I have a really hard time with accents. I'm also losing my ability to lipread quickly. I still can't believe how much easier life is. I had no idea how much harder I had to work before.

A few "aha" moments lately:

-the washing machine cycles all sound different
-I can hear water running upstairs when I'm downstairs
-rain is not as stressful. I don't have to cover my ears all the time and pray my hearing aids don't break.
-Listening to music while I'm getting ready in the morning is amazing!